A private cab driver was waiting for his fare in Throggs Neck, but didn’t bargain for what he got. A traffic agent summonsed him, even though he offered to move his car. The $125 fine he received was more than he makes on a good day – driving his cab.
The cabbie for Zero Car Service, who wishes to be only identified as Frank, was waiting for his elderly passenger at the corner of Schley and E. Tremont avenues and got summonsed for standing in a bus stop. The ticket was issued Wednesday, April 8.
Frank said he was waiting for the fare outside of the HSBC bank branch located at 3825 E. Tremont Avenue when a traffic agent came up behind his cab. She started writing a ticket as he waited for his passenger to exit the bank.
“She snuck up on the passenger side; I turned my head and saw her writing,” Frank said. “I told her that I was picking someone up and she said ‘I am still going to give you the ticket.’ I asked her why she didn’t ask me to move, and she said she didn’t have to tell me anything.”
Frank said that the traffic agent, identified as agent Simmons, would not listen to reason.
While Frank has had good experiences with other traffic agents who he said were courteous and respectful, this particular encounter left a sour taste in his mouth. It also did a number on his wallet.
“I was so disgusted with the whole situation. I picked up my passenger and drove away without taking the summons,” Frank said. “When my boss got the ticket in the mail, it was more than 30 days late, and there was a $10 fine added to the $115 ticket.”
Frank said his boss at Zero Car Service was very understanding and paid the ticket for him, but now he has to repay the company. He said that a cab driver working for a private car service in the Bronx makes $125 dollars on a good day, but those days are the exceptions.
“It really stinks because you work between 10 or 12 hours a day, and you are lucky to make that kind of money,” Frank said. “If the agent was decent all they had to do was tell me not to stay there. You just don’t pick up people as a cab driver and leave them if they ask you to wait. Is that what they want us to do?”
The ticket was unsuccessfully appealed before an administrative judge, who said the cabbie did not making a compelling case for an acquittal.
